


How the Red Brought Out the Blue

by YellowPaint606



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst and Feels, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, I forgot to say this is a Soldier!Au, I submitted this for an assignment, I try to be serious I swear-, Iwaizumi Hajime is Bad at Feelings, M/M, The teacher liked this one too, it took me an hour to figure out how civil war battle wounds worked, oikawa is persistent oh my gosh, when you think its good but you go back and uH
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27461968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowPaint606/pseuds/YellowPaint606
Summary: "Do you think it's scary?" Oikawa's voice was shaky and his breath seemed to pick up more."Is what scary?" It was a stupid question Iwaizumi already knew the answer to."I'm scared Iwa-chan."
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	How the Red Brought Out the Blue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work so if you have any advice it would be GREATLY appreciated.
> 
> Also sorry to the people who read the half finished version that I didn’t realize I posted instead of putting it in drafts >~<

The first sense that came back to Iwaizumi was his hearing, well, half of it at least. The feeling of liquid clogging his ear was bothersome but his muscles were aching too much to care. He slowly opened his eyes to see the sun -and this is not a metaphor- aiming all its rays right into his eyes, momentarily blinding him.

Slowly sitting up, Iwaizumi pretended the ache in his left arm didn't exist. How he got into this situation? He may never know. All he does know is:

1\. He was half deaf, but who knows, he's not a doctor or anything so he could be wrong. Highly unlikely though.

2\. His arm was killing him and it was probably because of the canon blast near him throwing him up in the air and smacking him down like a.. like a... he doesn't know but SOMETHING.

3\. Falling asleep sounded like the most satisfying thing to do in the empty battlefield -minus the bodies littering the ground.

So yeah, it's not much but could you blame him? Exhaustion could be his middle name right now.

Iwaizumi looked up at the sky and thought how dark and stormy skies would better fit the mood of a long battle rather than the sun that was STILL shining right on top of him like an annoying aunt. After much contemplation, Iwaizumi thought the most mature and reasonable thing to do now at the moment is to lay back down and go to sleep. He can deal with the fact that there was a body sitting -yeah sitting like he got comfortable before he decided to die- feet away from him later.

He began to lie down again and wait for the burial parties to find him -dead or alive, he didn't care right now. But the moment his eyes closed was when he knew something was off. It didn't feel right.

The noise hit him louder than it should have, assuming that half of his hearing was gone. His eyes shot open and were met by a soldier's own gaze not even ten yards away.

Iwaizumi's first mistake was not checking to see if the body near him was alive too. I mean, it's not unlikely given that his own heart was still beating. He knew from the start that the body -well, man- sitting up looked too comfortable to be dead. Iwaizumi was alive too and he wasn't half as comfortable as the man looked.

Iwaizumi's eyes were glued to the blue uniform of the enemy soldier while his hand went on autopilot for his gun, only to grab a handful of dirt.

That was his second mistake. Not checking to see if his rifle was near him. Thankfully, and Iwaizumi hated himself for thinking this, there were dead bodies around with free rifles of his choice. Before he had time to reach for a weapon, a shaky voice grabbed hold of his senses.

"No wait! Please, don't shoot me, I'm unarmed."

Hesitating was Iwaizumi's third mistake, if he never glanced up and really looked at the blue soldier's face he would have never opposed killing him. But here he is, deciding that maybe this soldier didn't need to go just yet.

The soldier halfway raised his hands from where he was leaning on a bed of overturned rock and soil to prove the verity of his statement.

"See, no gun." He gave a smile that Iwaizumi immediately didn't like. It didn't quite meet his eyes and it looked too forced. What a nuisance. Only seconds passed before he spoke again, "It definitely gives you another perspective," Iwaizumi didn't know what he was talking about, the soldier, thankfully, explained, "you know, like after it's all over. It's kinda eerie, really."

What. Was. He. Talking. About. Iwaizumi was sure they were suffering from a head injury and, frankly, he was kind of regretting not putting them (and himself) out of their misery.

"Is there a point to this conversation or are you just getting all sentimental now that death is everywhere?" It was a rude comment, but could you blame him? This guy was a nuisance. Maybe if he focused his attention to the ache in his arm the soldier would disappear. Like Iwaizumi's sanity.

"Maybe."

Iwaizumi glanced over as the soldier tried to blow a tuft of chocolate hair away from his eyes. His hair had other plans, though, and drifted right back to its original position. The soldier pouted while Iwaizumi suppressed a smirk.

"So what's your name?"

Iwaizumi froze, what was this guy doing? Knowing names would only bring a sense of familiarity that he wasn't keen of making with another soldier. He turned away and remained silent, hoping that was enough to inform the guy he didn't want to talk.

"My name is Oikawa."

Apparently it wasn't enough.

"Did I ask?"

The soldier, Oikawa apparently, shrugged and gave him a boyish grin. A small breeze passed, pushing more of Oikawa's hair onto his face. _Why doesn't he just turn away from the wind?_

Oikawa's grin never left his face, only growing bigger when Iwaizumi finally told his name.

"Iwa-chan nice to meet you."

"Don't call me that, it's Iwaizumi not Iwa-chan."

"Iwaizumi, Iwa-chan, what's the difference?" Oikawa grinned and went to sit up more but immediately crunched up and hissed, bringing his hands towards his torso.

Iwaizumi furrowed his eyebrows as he cautiously got up to understand what was going on. His eyes widened at the sight before him.

Oikawa, with his hands clenched to his gut, had a growing red stain slowly soaking his blue uniform.

A small chuckle came from Oikawa, "Well don't look too surprised, Iwa-chan."

Iwaizumi didn't know what he should do. Helping him seemed like the obvious answer but how many of his teammates were probably killed from this guy? Good riddance, he thought, but he instantly felt a pang of guilt with it.

Looking around the battlefield at all the soldiers spread across. Each one probably with their own family missing them back home. Iwaizumi realized then that the color of the uniform didn't necessarily matter, they were all humans who had their own lives before the conflict.

_Maybe we would have been friends if we were on the same side._

Crouching down, Iwaizumi began ripping the bottom of his pant leg, trying not to glance at the prominent stain on the blue uniform.

"You don't have to do that," Oikawa sighed, "I'll die either way."

Iwaizumi paused and glanced up at Oikawa. The blue soldier giving a small, sad smile that played with Iwaizumi's emotions.

Finishing ripping the pant leg, Iwaizumi motioned for Oikawa to unbutton his uniform. After a short moment of Oikawa winking and Iwaizumi deadpanning, Iwaizumi eventually helped him shrug the coat off -seeing as Oikawa could barely move his arms by himself- along with pulling up his shirt beneath.

The gaping hole in Oikawa's gut made Iwaizumi cringe, barely stomaching it. He was lucky it was near his intestines and not any of his primary organs but from how much time Iwaizumi predicted he had been sitting here, it was likely Oikawa would bleed out from the wound.

Iwaizumi shook his head, "How on Earth are you still alive?"

He gently sat Oikawa up to check for exit wounds before beginning to wrap the makeshift bandage, his face heated as he wrapped his arms around Oikawa in order to bring the bandage around his back. Oikawa, thankfully, kept quiet.

After finishing tying the bandage, Iwaizumi sat to the left of Oikawa, saying it was "only to make sure the bandage was tight enough". Oikawa gave him a sly smirk, testing out the range of his movements by brushing a tuft of his hair away from his face. Much to his dismay, however, it bounced right back as it had done previously.

_I wonder how soft his hair is..._

Iwaizumi quickly shook the thought out of his head, rather focusing on the bandage that seemed to only help fuel his concerns by how fast the stain already had spread.

They sat in silence while watching the clouds take shape then disappear out of vision and the sun slowly starting to fall. Iwaizumi could hear Oikawa's breaths coming at a faster rate than normal but he tried to ignore it, there was nothing left he could do anyways.

"H-hey Iwa-chan, is there anybody you're going home to?" Oikawa had a distant look in his eyes; his fingers busying themselves with the patches of grass near his leg.

"I have my family," he paused, knowing that wasn't what Oikawa meant, "but I don't have anybody waiting for me to come home. You?"

Oikawa shook his head, looking down, "There isn't anything for me to go back to really."

"Oh." What was he supposed to say to that? He turned to look at Oikawa and saw he had lost most of his flush already. Turning back to staring at the sky, Iwaizumi rolled a thought around his head.

"You could always come back with me." He blurted it out before he had time to regret it.

Oikawa's eyes widened slightly before crinkling in a smile, "Really?"

"Well...I mean...if you, if you want to." Iwaizumi shrugged, his face warming up slightly.

"If I do, can we go to a nice clearing and have a picnic somewhere?"

"Of course, and then we can walk to this small pond I found -actually, we can have the picnic by the pond."

"Can we bring sweets? Wait, are there sweets in your hometown?"

Iwaizumi laughed a little, earning a weak and shaky laugh from the blue soldier. He tried not to think too much about it, especially since the wound hadn't stopped bleeding.

"Of course there is. I'll make sure to bring you the town's best chocolate and you can decide if it's actually good or not." He was glad he said that, Oikawa's smile was definitely worth it.

Oikawa coughed, resting a shaky hand on his bandage, "And after that?"

Iwaizumi paused before gently putting a hand on Oikawa's shoulder, "We can watch the sunset together."

Moments passed before Oikawa whispered a weak, "I'd like that."

The sun began its descent in the grassy battlefield where two soldiers waited for time to catch up to them. Each and every moment freezing to glimpse what may have been the beginning of a special bond. A bond only shared between them and the universe.

_______

The sun was peeking out from the small gaps in between the tree branches, casting its last rays on the two soldiers.

When Oikawa began to cry, Iwaizumi checked his bandage. When Iwaizumi realized how faint Oikawa's pulse was and how shallow his breaths were, he could only sit by him and let the blue soldier rest their head on his shoulder.

"Do you think it's scary?" Oikawa's voice was shaky and seemed to cause his breath to pick up more.

"Is what scary?" It was a stupid question Iwaizumi already knew the answer to so he quietly said, "I don't know."

Another sniffle came from Oikawa. Iwaizumi watched as he used his shoulder to wipe another tear running down.

"I'm scared, Iwa-chan." He let a shaky breath out through his mouth. His eyes didn't seem to stop moving.  
  


“Hey, everything will be al-“

“It won’t!” Oikawa cut him off before he could finish, “And you know that so stop trying to give me false hope!” His voice cracked in the end and sobs broke out in the quiet field. “I’m going to die all alone...” His shoulders shook from his sobbing, the act alone visibly weakening him.

Iwaizumi didn’t know what to do so he grabbed hold of Oikawa’s hand. Oikawa went quiet, staring at their hands before looking up to Iwaizumi.

“You aren’t alone.” Iwaizumi mumbled, and before he could stop it, Oikawa began to cry again, clenching Iwaizumi’s hand with the last bit of strength he had left.

They stayed like that for a while, Iwaizumi being the pillar of strength for the blue soldier who had too much in the world to see with so little time.  
  


Eventually, Oikawa was too weak to cry and the only sign that he was still with him was the faint warmth coming from his hand. Iwaizumi brushed a few strands of Oikawa’s soft hair away from his eyes. He gently squeezed the blue soldier’s hand, reassuring him that he wasn’t going anywhere.

When Iwaizumi found Oikawa’s breathing hard to hear, he focused on the feeling of their hand in his own.

They watched hand in hand as the sun finally said goodbye and winked out of their sight. Iwaizumi wished the sun could shine on him again like it did before, maybe he could have had more time to spend with his unlikely companion.

He looked down to see a pale hand in his own, and as if he knew Iwaizumi was looking, Oikawa glanced up and gave him the best smile he could manage with the energy he had left.

It was like Iwaizumi was momentarily blinded by the sun in the moment.

How he wished to take back all the dreadful things he said to the sun if only to have this moment freeze forever. But with anything beautiful in this world, it fades away or says goodbye.

“Iwa.....chan?” It could barely be considered a whisper, Iwaizumi almost didn’t hear it with his good ear.

“Yeah?” Iwaizumi gripped Oikawa’s heatless hand, realizing the end was coming all too soon.

“Can I....can I come see you....at the pond?” Iwaizumi’s eyes went glassy as he bit his lip. He looked down at the sun, brushing a hand through his hair.

“Yeah...you can come see me at the pond.” He whispered, and that seemed to be enough for Oikawa as he sighed into Iwaizumi and gave him one last smile.

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

_______

Cattails brushed against one another, a therapeutic rhythm playing along the lily pads and the picnic blanket laid alongside a small stone grave.

A man, now old with aches and gray hair, sat next to the grave with a picnic basket to his side.

The weary man placed the town’s best chocolate next to the previous one he laid the week before. He chatted with the grave about his grandchildren and how he believed they would one day grow to be the next great figure in history. When the sun began setting behind the pond the man went silent, watching it sink lower with a nostalgic smile.

“Will you be waiting for me in the afterlife, I wonder?”

Time stopped in that moment as a soft figure with a clean blue uniform sat next to him, watching the sunset with a peaceful expression on his face.

“I’ll always be waiting.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you read this far then you might just be my favorite person. Thank you for giving my work a chance :/


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